Teaching Resources

Welcome to the Emerging America Resource Library. Browse our ever-growing collection of primary source sets, lesson plans, classroom assessments, and more, developed by teachers and edited for quality and consistency. Use the controls in the blue box to search and filter by Type, Subject, Time Period, and Grade Level.

NOTE: Use the website search engine (above) to find resources–such as apps and curriculum from other organizations–that appear only in the blog.

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This lesson guides students in exploring the Great Depression of 1920-1940 with a focus on the Dust Bowl, migrant workers, and the status of people with disabilities. The lesson is conceived as a research project in preparation for reading John Steinbeck’s novella “Of Mice and Men”, and could also be an interdisciplinary unit linking American […]

Type:Lesson Plan

Subject:English, US History

Time Period:Modern America

Grade Level:9-12

Topics:The Great Depression

Tags:Disability History, English Language Arts, English Literature, Great Depression, Students with Diverse Needs, U.S. History II

In this lesson, students learn about the Social Security Act and its provisions to care for the elderly, the unemployed, mothers and children, and children and adults with disabilities. Students will examine several primary source images and documents related to the New Deal era, using a primary source analysis organizer. The lesson offers options in […]

Type:Lesson Plan

Subject:US History

Time Period:Modern America

Grade Level:9-12

Topics:Disability History, Progressive Era, The Great Depression

Tags:Disability History, FDR, Great Depression, New Deal, Progressive Era, Social Security, U.S. History II

This lesson features both ancient texts referring to the lives of Roman soldiers after they were wounded in battle and images and recordings of American veterans. Students will compare how two societies separated by centuries think about and act toward veterans who live with a disability. The lesson includes activities that offer opportunities to move […]

The Eugenics movement in the early 20th century United States, a pseudo-scientific amalgamation of social Darwinist philosophy and animal breeding management, gained widespread approval across the country and influenced many internationally, most notably in the the Nazi racial policies of the era leading up to World War II. This primary source set includes newspaper articles, photographs, […]

Who gets accepted as a citizen or as an immigrant? Who is considered a desirable immigrant? Students will work in small groups to examine a primary source text and image set about immigrants at the turn of the 20th century. They will use the sources to develop a deeper understanding of the hurdles and discrimination […]

What impact did the Magna Carta have on the U.S. Constitution and the shaping of the 14th Amendment? In the following lesson plan students will trace both the origins and results of the Magna Carta in the context of the U.S. Constitution and the 14th Amendment. With a particular emphasis placed on the due process […]

“…establish justice…” “…promote the general welfare….” “…secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity…” By connecting the goals of the federal government to primary source visual representations, this simple civics lesson will help students to remember and think more deeply about the goals set out by the Preamble to the United States […]

This lesson can serve as an introduction to the history of the U.S. Labor Movement, resistance to fascism in the Spanish Civil War, and Disability History and issues of access to full societal participation. The lesson can also stand alone as a single-session Civics lesson on how the rights enumerated in the US Bill of Rights have been claimed by individuals who defied authority for a cause they believed in.

How do changes in the treatment of students with special education needs over time show society’s changing understandings of disability? The 19th century initiatives to provide supports for people with disabilities, including the founding of schools for students with cognitive, hearing, or vision disabilities, were an important component of the social reform movements in the […]

Care for veterans is relevant to understanding war and the role of government, and is critical to disability history. In this lesson, students gather information through a variety of primary sources on the experiences of veterans from the War of Independence through today. They ask, ‘How has U.S. government care for veterans changed over time?’ […]